Piano-action



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

HARRY LYMAN HONE, OF LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY.

PIANO-ACTION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 409,325, dated August 20, 1889.

Application filed l'azniary 9, 1889. Serial No. 295,896. (No model.)

To all whom it' may concern' Be it known that l, HARRY LYMAN HOKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lexington, in the county of Fayette and State of Kentucky, have invented new and useful Improvements in Actions for Upright Pianos, of which the following is a specifica; tion.

The invention relates to improvements in actions for upright pianos; and it consists in a certain novel construction and combination of devices, Vfully described hereinafter in connection with the accompanying drawings, and specitically pointed out in the claims.

ln the drawings, Figure l is a view of a piano-action embodying my invention in its normal position. Fig. 2 is a view showing the position of the action after the key has been struck, with the parts in position to permit a repetition. Fig is a view showing the position of the parts after the second stroke of the hammer, and illustrating the manner of tripping the ily or supplemental jack. Fig. l is a detail perspective view of the jack and the fly-jack detached.

This action belongs to that class known as repeating-actions7 and the parts thereof are arranged in such relation that a rapid repetition of a note is possible, as more fully described hereinafter.

A designates the jack-lever, which is pivotcd near its rear end to the hanger ll, which depends from a suitable rail C.

D designates the hammer provided with the usual knuckle (l, having a shoulder d.

E designates the damper, and e the damperlever.

e designates the tongue on the rear end of the jack-lever to operate the damper-lever, and F designates the back check, the shank fof which is attached to the front end of the jack-lever. These parts are all of the ordinary and well-known construction.

Gr designates the jack, which is pivotcd to a standard g on the jackdever, and its upper end is normally held in engagement with the shoulder on the knuckle d by means of the spring g, which bears against the free end of the toe of the jack, and H represents a iiyjack smaller than the jack which is pivv oted in a rectangular opening g2 in the said jack and terminates at its upper end slightly below the upper end of the jack. The upper end of the iiy-jack fits between rearwardlyextending ears h 71y on the upper end of the jack, whereby the felt on the knuckle of the hammer is protected from the upper end of the y-jack, and the toe of the iy-jack projects beyond the front side of the jack, as shown. A small coiled spring h connects the rear side of the ily-jack with the jack, whereby the upper end of the former is drawn away from the jack.

I represents the wire against which the damper normally rests.

K designates the rest against which the hammer normally bears, and ,ll designates the bridle which is connected to the bumper N ou the knuckle of the hammer, and attached at its free end to the upper end of the bridlewire M on the front end of the jackdever.

The operation of the invention is as follows: W hen the key, (not shown,) to which the front end of the jack-lever is attached by means ot the rod P, is depressed, the hammer Vis thrown rearward in the ordinary manner by the jack, the said jack being' tripped at the proper point by means of the adjustable stop Q, and thereby disengaged from the shoulder of the hammer. As the upper end of the jack moves away from the said shoulder the upper end ot' the liy-rack separates therefrom, (owing to the contraction Aot" the spring 7z,) and therefore when the hammer rebounds from the wire its shoulder bears on the upper end ot the said fly-jack, as clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. A second stroke may now be made, by repeating the pressure on the key,bet'ore the parts have had time to return to their normal positions, as shown in Fig. l. At the proper point in the second stroke, (namely, just as the hammer strikes the wire,) the ily-,jack is in turn tripped hy an adjustable stop R, (which is arran ged above the stop (2,) thereby disengaging its upper end from the shoulder of the knuckle. As the key is allowed to rise slightly in order to make the third stroke, the fly-jack is removed from its stop, thereby allowing it to be drawn rearward and engage the shoulder d in position for athird stroke.

rlhe object in terminating the ity-jack slightly below the upper end of the jack is to enable the former to swing under the ICO shoulder of the knuckle when its toe is removed from the stop R, even when the hammer has rebounded from the wire.

From the above description it will be readily seen that a rapid repetition of a note may be attained without allowing the parts of the action to return to their normal posit-ions, the movement, after the iirst stroke, being confined almost entirely to the fly-jack, which being small and light will operate quickly.

Having thus described the invention, I claim- 1. The combination, with a jack, ofa ily or supplemental jack pivoted in a recess formed in the rear face thereof andadapted to engage the knuckle of the hammer, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination, with a jack, of a iiyjack pivoted thereto and terminating at its upper end below the upper end of the jack, substantially as specified.

3. The combination, with a jack, of a fly* jack pivoted thereto and the spring connected to thc latter tonorm( lly drawits upper the stop Q to engage the toe of the jack, of y the iy-jack pivoted to the jack and normally held out of contact'therewith at its upper end and the stop R to engage the toe of the ily-jack, substantially as specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HARRY LYMAN HONE.

Witnesses:

F. H. NORTON, JAMES M. DALY. 

